According to the agency, 336,000 first-time claims were filed, up from 323,000 the week before.

That 323,000 figure, by the way, is a small revision from last week's report — which, as we wrote at the time, estimated there had been 320,000 first-time claims filed in the week ending Aug. 10. At that level, claims were the lowest for any single week since just before the most recent recession began in December 2007. But at 323,000, they're the lowest since just after that recession began. A small difference, but one we wanted to note.

Still, as Bloomberg News notes, if you look at Thursday's report another way it too offers some of the best news since before the 2007-2009 recession:

"The number of claims in the month ended Aug. 17 declined to 330,500 a week on average, the least since November 2007."